Lola the greyhound’s lucky escape

There was a lucky escape for Lola the grayhound recently, after she suffered life-threatening injuries when she ran into a tree.

Lola, who is being fostered through local charity Animal Connexions, was out walking with her owner on Sunday October 18 when the accident happened.

The greyhound was running and unfortunately ran onto a piece of a fallen oak tree.

And it was thanks to the quick thinking of her owners, who phoned ahead to Cromlyn House Veterinary Hospital, Hillsborough, that Lola survived, as they were 45 minutes away from the veterinary hospital.

Vet Steven Baird, who treated Lola, said: “Lola was walking out in the park and there was a fallen tree. Unfortunately, greyhound’s are more prone to stick injuries, having thinner skin.Lola ran onto part of the fallen tree and it had gone into the lung.

“Her owner phoned ahead and got her here quickly. She is with a long term foster carer from Animal Connexions, so they had put a bandage over it.

“There was blood coming out through the hole as she was breathing. Her lung had collapsed and there was a hole through her chest. It got quite serious, quite quickly,” Steven said.

“There was no time to go through to pros and cons of anaesthesia, we had her in surgery straight away. Our nurse, Sinead, would finish work at 5pm, stayed on until the operation was over at 8 o’clock.

“The tree had gone between the ribs, through the diaphram and scraped the liver. It was probably as bad as I have seen. I had to remove part of the lung, repair the diaphram. Thankfully the scrape to the liver had already begun to heal itself.”

Steven said the dog was ‘incredibly brave. “Greyhound’s are normally not at all stoic,” Steven said. “But we were able to place the IV line and get pain medication into her without any upset.

“All things considering, she is doing magnificently. She’s still on antibiotics. The oak tree had fallen and was a rough stick, but so far she hasn’t had any sign of infection. She is well on the mend,” he said.

“Sticks are inherently dangerous for dogs. In Lola’s case she ran after a rabbit and didn’t have the sense to stop, but sticks can cause life threatening injuries such as Lola’s; dogs are much safer with a ball.

“It can be tempting when you are out to pick up a stick, but you can’t be too careful.